RoverRick

The beauty part about this is that it’s a ratio. While a 5’5” and a 6’6” golfer may have different length of pace, it makes no difference. 24 total and 8 to the green is the same club as 30 total and 10 to the green, still a 9 iron. Also, even if your irons are hotter or more weaker, it’s still a repeatable method that will save you strokes. I played Thursday, 9 holes before the rain, the driver was not good, but I had 2 great iron shots that gave me tap in birdies, 2 great pitches that gave me birdies, 2 bad chips that netted bogies, 3 good pitches that left me pars. 34 on a day with a balky driver. I wish the rain would have held off. Ironically, before each of the putt/chips/pitches, I said, “Putt when you can, Chip when you can’t, pitch when you have to.” The first hole was uphill upper tier and chipped, and it checked up leaving me a 20’er. Wrong choice, I should have pitched to it. 4th hole downhill, didn’t check and ran off the green, I should have putted. In both instances I knew I should play it differently, but had stuck with the shot I had envisioned before I even got to the ball I also birdied the 2 par 5’s with a 1/2 50° wedge (waist high) 70y and a 3/4 50° (ear high) 95 yards. Then made a couple of 10’ers. On the holes that I bogeyed, perhaps I should have been thinking about which could end up worse, not which would be the best.

I play about 4 times a week. Say 4 time 4 weeks a month times 10 months since I got my DF2.1 times 18 holes approximately 2880 holes of golf with the LAB, I have walked off the green 1 time thinking I made a bad stroke. Sure I have misread it, hit too hard or soft, aimed it wrong, but there was only 1 time that I knew I manipulated the putter during the stroke causing me to miss. That’s how neutral this putter feels. That was not the case with my previous Scotty’s, Pings, Odysseys, or any other putter. I was just like every other guy I play golf with, “Pulled It!” “Pushed It!” “D@### it!”

@MeyerBirdie I’ve been gaming the DF2.1 since last May. I’m a huge LAB proponent. Average 27 putts per round, and I’ve been nicknamed “One-Putt Rick”. I disagree with “you need a toe hang putter.” There is a huge thread on here from member testing from last year that covers this, but I suggest some training drills when you get your DF2.1. Find a straight putt on the practice green. Use something tees, Make dots with a Sharpie, chalk line, dimes, something that is visible, I use a sharpie and tape measure and put 8 dots 1’ apart to the hole. I place a ball on the 8th dot and then setup to where the ball and all the dots look like the are in a line. This putter will look and feel very different, but learn to aim it properly from the first time. Walk around, come back and set up again. Personally, I don’t think about the stroke. I know my aim is correct and focus on the speed. If you hit it where you aim at the right speed, you will know why you miss. I wouldn’t work on any putting stroke issues until I first learned to aim. Otherwise, you could be chasing after non-existent stroke issues and its aim.

I should mention that from time to time, I practice my set up. I have taken a Sharpie to the putting green and found a straight putt. Then a tape measure and placed tiny dots 1’ apart for 7-8’. I’ve seen people also use a caulk line. Then I set up to where my putter face and all the dots look to be in a straight line. I back off and perhaps walk around the hole and come back to the ball and set up again to “nail the set up”. If I ever have a day I don’t think I’m lining up properly, I will walk over to where I laid down my wedge and set up with the putter so that it refreshes the proper alignment.

For me, the thing that keeps my putting stroke consistent is to not think about the stroke itself at all. I pick my line, set up square to it and then forget about everything except the distance I want the ball to go. I average 27 strokes per round with the low of 24 and high of 32 since last May. Of course the real “secret” to fewer putts is to get you chipping and pitching and lag putts good and make 53’ers.

I wish I would have thought of that. Instead, I have the one that was made for me in 2014 after I made up some song or limerick about something. I don’t even remember. It was part of the “Distinguished Gentleman’s” thread.

And shout out to the MGS Staff, which Jon also mentioned. While we may have been limited geographically, they selected a wide cross-section of golfers. Basically, 85, 95, 105, 115 mph swing speeds. Also of note, 2 of us have long game needing work, while 2 already have a good long game. I’m very excited to see what happens, and have already seen improvements from information from Jon. Although, Jon did mention that he was not a fan of our grips since at least 3 of us used JumboMax grips. I think that’s because TPT factory couldn’t build the shafts and adjust the weight accordingly with anything but standard shafts. Getting the weight perfect is important to Jon. For me, I suck either way, but I may learn it makes a huge difference.

@William P@Hoyoymac @ZackS , it truly was a pleasure meeting you, and even though I was familiar with the process, it was educational to see you guys go through it also. Although I don’t see anything that has not been already discussed.

@Hoyoymac is 100% correct. While going through the process it’s tough to realize what's going on while it’s happening to you, but watching others go through the process is very enlightening. I’ve already given my opinion of the process, so other than to say how great it was to meet everyone, I’ll leave it at that. Also, for the record, @ZackS had the putter when I left so if it’s missing it wasn’t me.

So yesterday, 1v1v1 We were playing skins and low net. I had 8 skins, but was giving one guy 4 skins strokes and the other 11. After 17 holes, they were ties and I was 2 back with strokes. On 18, I needed a birdie, and my 2 competitors needed to both bogey for a tie, or both double for me to win. I asked the score keeper to make sure. Because If I would have been in the lead, I would not have gone for the green with that pin position. It’s muddy and into a 20mph wind to an island green from 150. I took dead aim and missed it 33.5 yards left. One guy laid up, but the highest handicap hit the green but was 45’ away. I had a chance to tie if I made it and he 3-putted. I knew that a 54° middle of my shin high would fly 30 yards. There was a slope and 30 yards of carry would catch the slope and feed down to the hole. So I aimed 4’ left and made a confident swing. I had just told them I didn’t even need my putter because it was going in. (The reality was it didn’t matter if it went in the water. The putter was useless because unless I birdied, one of those guys was going to win $10 from each of us.) I hit the perfect pitch, it fed to the hole and dropped in on its almost dying roll. And so ends the Cinderella story. The high handicapper 2 putted from 45 feet and won $10 from each which really meant he just owed me $2 from the skins bet. The moral of the story is that it was not just a guess on my part. I shot the yardage, knew how far the ball would fly. Played it with my hit and roll pitch swing. (I didn’t cover this but I vary my AOA to impart different amounts of spin.) And read it like a putt from there. Out of 18 holes yesterday, I had 14 opportunities to PCP. 1 was perfect. 10 were excellent, and the other 3 were 2nd chances after a bad first attempt. So I got up and down, 71% of the time yesterday. But it wasn’t ALL guess work and ALL feel. While those 2 things play a vital role, it’s based off of rules and practice. Short game is not as sexy to practice as driver. But ask any competitor if he remembers any of your drives. I was paid the ultimate compliment on hole 12 when Dave said, “I’m getting damned tired of you getting up and down and winning holes.” As he slammed the pin in the hole after I retrieved my ball. Unfortunately, this was just the short game yesterday. It does not take into account the trees hit, fatted shots in the mud, or a sundry of other misses yesterday. I was still 11 over par.

Don’t worry. Jon will sweat that alcohol out of you pretty early.

Okay, and I want to putt with the LINK1 with the TPT shaft again. I just sold some clubs and have been lusting in my heart after that putter. You guys distract him ……. perhaps not.

@ZackS. @Hoyoymac @William P I will be in Dallas tomorrow so will try to stop by and meet everyone.

Well, I went out and tried my hardest. I thought it was possible to go low today. -2 through 5 holes, in spite of a less than stellar driver swing. Sadly, it began to catch up starting on hole 6. I didn’t even come close to better than 80 or more than 3 birdies or 74 and 1 birdie. It doesn’t matter which of my scores are used, neither of them beat @Golf2Much and his net 66 even when combined with @GolfSpy_SHARK. I didn’t even look at @GolfSpy_APH’s scores.

Ironically, combined my first score plus your score gives us a 74 with 3 birdies, and my second score with your score gives us 74 with 1 birdie. I’m playing today and it will be a muddy mess, but only a 6 mph wind. Who knows how that will turn out? But since I can’t use my handicap that second score will be hard for me to beat because the second one would be a 68 with 2 birdies and an eagle with my handicap.

It was a great week, but my playing partners probably wouldn’t have been to keen on the idea of me dropping another ball and taking the best. Also, the only thing worse than walking across a muddy fairway to get to your ball when it’s cart path only is having to do it twice.

Congrats. 10k for a newbie like you is something. I don’t even have 7k in 13 years, but this is also not my job.

The degree of the club, like the number, is immaterial. I want clubs that go straight and a certain distance. First, I don’t hit any clubs below 5 iron as far as I can. I want a 14-15 yard gap between clubs. So if my gap wedge goes 100 I want my pitching wedge to go 115, 9 iron 130 etc. But the degree of the club is only part of the equation. Club head design plays a vital role in that some 44° clubs may go shorter because they are designed to give higher launch and more spin. So my P790 PW is 45° but I don’t care. I can hit it straight 115 yards, “ear high”. I can stop “shoulder high” (that’s in quotations, because I feel ear or shoulder or waist or some other body part high, and it may not be anywhere near this part. It is just a feel. ) and hit it 100 same as my gap. Somewhere in between and carry it 108. I can also hit it 130, but I have no idea if it goes straight or 40 yards left. The only time I hit a mid or short iron full is to go over something and only if I can’t go under or around.

I played my first round in the rain with these yesterday, and almost threw my 7 iron into the lake. Not on purpose, but they were so slick that club almost came out of my hand. I reinstalled the BestGrips this morning on my irons and wedges before my round got rained out. I’m undecided about driver, 3 wood and hybrid at this time, but since I am expecting new shafts for these, I will try both and then decide. After all it takes 5 minutes to swap them out.

I just bought a new wedge. I played a 60° wedge since well into the last century. About 18 months ago, I bought a Hi Toe 58°. However, it’s time to replace it. I didn’t love the sole itself but found that 58° was better than 60°. Previously, I had Mizuno ES21 54 & 60. The ES21 is perhaps the best wedge no one plays. It’s hollow towards the hosel side to give it better balance. I wanted a 58° but with more bounce. So I bought a new-in-plastic ES21 58° wide sole 12° bounce. For $75 delivered. Since the are not popular, they are cheap.

Date 03/15/2024 Course Name Sulphur Springs CC Gross Score 74 Course Handicap 0 Gross Strokes over/under par 2 Net Score to Par 2 Net Score 74 Net Birdies or better Longest Drive SIM Round? The lesson from Jon Sinclair has really helped the long game. After chatting on the Rule of 12 thread last night, I told myself as I approached every green today “Putt when you can, Chip when you can’t, and Pitch when you must.” Today the weather was not good. Rain, cold, wind and had I not been in the running for low score bet I would have quit. While these putting numbers look impressive, 1,2,3,4,6,7,11,& 13 combine for perhaps 8’ of total putts. 5 of them I used the putter off the green but they don’t count as putts because it wasn’t a GIR. These are my best across the board strokes gained numbers since I have been using this app. I’m not exactly sure how it comes up with them, I sort of feel like my short game was better than that, and my approach shots were worse. But I’m thrilled with the direction my game is going.

Awesome! I feared it was only a week, and rain last Saturday, fitting Sunday, golf Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, tournament Saturday and another round Sunday, I ran out of days this week to try this.

@GolfSpy_BEN I have a question about entering multiple rounds. I played today, cold, windy and raining. I shot a 74, with 1 birdie and 3 bogies. I had at least a par putt on every hole. My question is, if this was solo, the 74 today beats the 80 on Wednesday. But this is Match Play with a teammate so the 3 birdies may contribute more in spite of the 5 doubles I had. How do you determine which is used?

I was just wondering how long this lasts, when I saw that it locks Dec. 31, 2024? Is that right? I may be able to squeeze this in after all.

I played today and recited the mantra, “Putt when you can, Chip when you can’t, Pitch when you must.” There was one time I putted and may have been better off chipping, and 1 chip that might have been better putting, but since I made the following putts, it didn’t cost me anything. I shot a 74 and didn’t really make any mistakes. Cold, raining, windy, actually slippery at times. I almost fell twice and the club nearly slipped out in the rain, I didn’t hit everything perfectly, but that was a solid round.